Moorpark City Council began their special meeting early on Jan. 19 to view presentations regarding Southern California Edison’s efforts to manage conditions which often lead to Public Safety Power Shutoffs.
City Manager Troy Brown is responsible for coordinating public information and began the meeting with a reference to a high wind event in 2020.
“This special meeting tonight is the result of a conversation and direction that the Council provided at the Dec. 1st, 2020 City Council meeting, which was following the Thanksgiving break, where the City of Moorpark suffered through a variety of PSPS over the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Brown.
“As you may know, most of the city of Moorpark is in a high fire risk area, being subject to high winds and conditions that lead to power safety shutoffs,” Brown continued.
Brown then turned the meeting over to Councilmember Daniel Groff.
Groff introduced Megan Somogyi, a partner at Downy Brand LLC and community advocacy consultant for the California Public Utilities Commission.
Somogyi gave a remote presentation of the PSPS-related proceedings which mandates SCE to share significant amounts of information about local circuits, weather patterns and PSPS impact with local governments.
The next presenter of the evening was Rudy Gonzales, government relations manager for SCE. Gonzales discussed strategies that SCE is implementing to manage high-wind and other hazardous conditions.
“One part of SCE’s strategic plan involves hardening the electric grid, making it more resilient to wind and fire events,” said Gonzales.
Hardening the grid is an ongoing process, which involves the installation of, to date, 2,500 miles of covered conductor, 13,200 fast-acting fuses, 166 wildfire cameras and 1,430 weather stations. SCE plans to continue increasing their ground and aerial inspections of equipment for repairs, maintenance or replacement.
Of Moorpark’s circuits, four specifically have had work done to mitigate PSPS events, including the Enchanted Circuit, which encompasses Moorpark College campus.
Beginning this quarter, SCE plans to install 6.31 circuit miles of covered conductor before April, primarily in and around the Moorpark College area and the area just across the 118 freeway in Simi Valley.
Three additional circuits will be updated. SCE will complete the 5.5 circuit miles of covered conductor in the Anton Circuit, append 2.04 circuit miles of covered conductor to one segment of the Gabbert Circuit and add 5.6 circuit miles of covered conductor to the Zone Circuit.
SCE implements Public Safety Power Shutoffs when they determine weather conditions have become hazardous and may compromise the safety of their customers.
Moorpark College students, faculty and staff can receive notices of potential power outages that may or may not be caused by high wind events.
For more information and updates on Moorpark City Council meetings, visit the website here.
